One Hundred Percent Woman
by Mark Doherty
Summary: AU. In her quest for vengeance, Ukyou acted as a boy for 10 years, and even attended a boys only school. What if she'd gone to a different boys middle school, one with two boys who fought over bread? First two chapters originally written in 1997.
1. Chapter 1

Characters are the brainchild(ren) of Takahashi Rumiko. No disrespect is intended in their use.

Gender's a little tricky in this story. I'll be using pronouns based on how the characters see themselves - ie, onna-Ranma is still 'he'.

"Lone and alone she lies,  
Poor Miss 7,  
Five steep flights from the earth,  
And one from heaven;  
Dark hair and dark brown eyes-  
Not to be sad she tries,  
Still - still it's lonely lies Poor Miss 7"  
- "Poor 'Miss 7'" by Walter De La Mare

* * *

Morning. A time for rituals. For one person, it may be the simplest of things: brushing the teeth, perhaps a quick jog, maybe reading the newspaper, or even eating breakfast. For others, there are more complicated or esoteric rituals: morning prayer, martial arts workouts, meditation. Rituals tend to be tailored to the individual. 

There are ways and ways of looking at things. One way of looking at a ritual was to see it as a habit that has taken on special meaning. In a small flat, a girl of about thirteen years was performing a habit of very special meaning. It was a relatively new ritual for the young girl, but a fairly necessary one.

Kuonji Ukyou was binding her breasts.

It hurt like hell to do it. It made every breath an effort. It terrified her to think how much worse it would be, as she grew. But it did its job. It hid a side of her that she no longer wanted anything to do with, that she hadn't wanted anything to do with for seven years. She'd assumed the duties, responsibilities and honour of a man. Up until recently, all she'd needed to affect her male persona was the right attitude - she'd always been a bit androgynous in looks.

But recently, nature had been showing Her disapproval at Ukyou's choice to live as a man. Nature had, being the interfering Mother that She is, decided that it was time Ukyou become a woman, even if the girl so wanted to give up that side of her. Nature was not to be denied. Merely cursed.

Do you know what it's like to be thirteen years old, and to wake up one morning to find yourself bleeding from... there... for seemingly no good reason? What it's like, when you go to your only parent, your father, to try and seek comfort and explanation, only to have him angrily deny your 'injury' because it implies that you aren't a man? Do you know what it's like to find out what's going on to yourself only by shamefacedly sneaking into an embarrassing part of the library, and reading about it in an all too frank book?

Ukyou knew, and wished she didn't. As far as she was concerned, she could really do without having to bind her chest, she could really do without all the other inconveniences of being a girl. But, despite wishes to the contrary, even if one could choose which gender to pretend to be, one couldn't choose which gender one was. That just wasn't possible...

With one last tuck, the tight binding was in place. Ukyou stood for a few moments, taking in shallow breaths, adjusting her lungs to the reduced air intake. Then, she picked her shirt off its hanger, putting it on quickly, economically. Once that was on, it was the turn of the bandolier that acted both as a house to her throwing spatulas, and as a holster for her primary weapon, a very large combat spatula. Needless to say, unpredictability was an important part of her combat style. One quick ribbon-tied ponytail later, and she was finished dressing.

A lightning fast breakfast later, she was out of her tiny apartment, the property of an uncle who, thanks to extensive business trips, used it infrequently. From the apartment, it didn't take all that long to reach her new school. She stood outside its gates for a few minutes, just staring. Other students walked past her, not sparing her a second glance, as they all entered the grounds. Every student was a boy, there wasn't a girl in sight; Ukyou's new school was boys-only.

Her... his father had tried to convince him to go to a boys-only school closer to home. But home had become a wooden construct, a house, and not the warm and loving abode he vaguely remembered from his childhood. Home was not a place he wished to be. Besides, he was trying to forever hone his martial arts skills, for the day when vengeance could finally be his, and this particular school had a certain reputation for producing martially skilled students.

So here he was instead. Still a boys school; to tell the truth he thought that a good thing. Ukyou had been uncomfortable around girls of his age recently. They were going through the same... changes that he was, and they were starting to notice boys. Fortune(good or bad depended on perspective) had decided that the girls were convinced that Ukyou was a very handsome boy. He was not so far gone into his adopted gender that he was enamoured with such scrutiny. A boys school meant that he could get away from the girls for a while. He was ready for it; he'd worked out all sorts of ways to privately change clothes for things like PE. And he already had a doctors note detailing a most painful sounding medical problem, in preparation for swim class...

Ukyou shook his head to clear himself of the strange sense of foreboding that he was experiencing. With a determined expression, he walked into his new school. No, he reasoned to himself, his foreboding must just have come from anxiousness about going to a new school. What could possibly go wrong?

Five minutes later, an exasperated boy, his hair tied in a short ponytail, literally dragged another boy into the schoolyard. The second boy had a sullen expression on his face, which was framed with a shaggy mop of hair.

"Dammit." the second boy snarled. "Let go of me! It's humiliating! I don't need your help!"

"Yeah, sure." the first boy snorted. "You couldn't find your way out of a room with an open door. You should be thanking me, Ryouga."

Ryouga snorted. "Thank you? Keep dreaming Ranma..."

* * *

"There's a new addition to our class." 

Ukyou kept his gaze forward as his home room teacher, a grim-looking man with a strong build and greying hair, introduced him to the students in his home room.

"Kuonji Ukyou." The teacher, Kumagai, continued in his gruff, abrupt speech.

Ukyou bowed.

"From Kyoto."

Ukyou looked around. The boys were staring at him, their expressions ranging from boredom, through neutrality, to slight interest, which seemed to be mainly directed towards his unusual weaponry. There was always that slightest of fear, when he met new people, that they would see through his disguise. From the looks of it, he realised with an inner sigh, these bright boys would be lucky if they discovered fire in a volcano, let alone his secret.

"Give him a day or so to settle, or I'll have your heads." Kumagai-sensei finished, scowling.

Ukyou raised his eyebrows slightly at his teacher's last sentence. It wasn't hard to see how this school had built its tough reputation if this guy was, as the Principal had put it when he'd welcomed Ukyou, 'an easygoing man'.

* * *

A chaotic, anarchic, roiling mass of humanity crashed like angry waves against the counter of the school cafeteria. Seemingly random arms, and, in some cases, legs, rose from the group of boys, who were each trying their best to get food before the cafeteria ran out of meals. Screams rose from the packed crowd; it was hard to tell whether the screams were of pain, or of comraderic, joking delight. 

This place was a madhouse.

And does that make me mad, for coming here? Ukyou wondered as he stared at the shuffling horde of boys who were, through liberal use of elbows and knees to non-fatal areas(stomach, heads, and groins), showing their displeasure to each other at the cramped cafeteria food line.

"Last chance for soup bread!" The cafeteria worker cocked his arm, before he cast the plastic packaged prize, a sandwich, into the air, aiming for the middle of the hungry pack before him.

Ukyou turned. This was pointless, he'd heard of clan wars that were less bloody than the lineup to get food around here. He could cook his own food, he decided as he started to walk to the exit. There was an okonomiyaki recipe he had been trying to perfect, he needed to practice on that. It would serve well for lunch; far better, no doubt, than food created enmasse by uncaring cafeteria cooks. There was nothing here he wanted.

"Ranma! How dare you steal my bread yet again!" a voice bellowed from somewhere within the rowdy jumble of humanity behind Ukyou.

Ukyou froze. Mid-step. Which is far harder to do than some may think. He stayed there for a second or two, one foot raised slightly onto the balls, the other unsupported, half-way through coming down for the next step. His eyes were wide, deer-caught-in-the-headlights wide, and his lips were whitening from the way he was gnashing them together. Then, his eyes narrowed. He completed his step, settling both feet flat to the floor.

The chef turned around smoothly, before he squinted for a few seconds at the centre of the commotion. He slowly, calmly tapped the shoulder of a nearby boy. The student turned, annoyed at the interruption to his view of the brewing fight.

"Excuse me, what would the name be of that ponytailed boy?" Ukyou asked politely, calmly.

"Him? Ranma." The boy was abrupt, he wanted to turn his attention back to the commotion.

"And his family name?" The faintest quaver marred an otherwise dead-calm voice.

The boy sighed. "Saotome, okay? If you want to play 20 questions, why don't you do it with him?"

"Thank you." The slightest schink of metal rasping against a leather clasp, as a giant spatula was drawn from its back-holster. "I will."

* * *

"Whadya mean, your bread?" Ranma asked, rolling his eyes. He gulped down the last of the sandwich before tossing the plastic wrap into a faraway bin. "It was in the air, it was fair game, it certainly wasn't 'your' bread." 

"It was so my bread!" Ryouga raged, shaking his fist at the other boy. "I haven't eaten in two days, Saotome! Only a thief like you would snatch my meal like that, practically from my very mouth!"

"Oh come on, we go through this every time." Ranma smirked, before adding "That is, every time you actually find the lunch room."

"DIE!!!"

Ranma blinked. That was Ryouga's typical response to a taunt like that, true, but how did he shout that without opening his mouth? And why was Ryouga looking past him?

Ranma turned in time to see another boy bearing down on him. The charging boy looked furious, his mouth was stretched back in a rictus snarl, and he held a huge weapon aloft, ready to strike. Ranma's eyes widened. Even for this school, sudden attacks by strangers were a little uncommon.

When the boy brought the weapon around in a slicing manoeuvre, Ranma abandoned wondering about the madman's reasons, and jumped back, just missing out on what could have quite possibly been disembowelment.

"Hey!" Ranma shouted, avoiding another swing from the stranger. The kid must be new, he thought, but why's that mean he attacks me? Is he trying to prove he's a bigshot or something? "What the hell do ya think you're doing?"

"You... you..." Ukyou gave up, and let his spatula give the general gist of what he was trying to say. The surrounding crowd edged back after some of the cook's wilder swings.

"Look, I'm not in the mood for this." Ranma warned. Why was it that almost no-one who attacked him explained why? He looked at Ukyou's face, searching for familiar features. Damn, he thought, I do know him. But from where...?

"Uh..." Ryouga said weakly, forgotten in the commotion. "It's only bread, guys. You don't have to overreact..."

"Shut up!" Ranma and Ukyou shouted in unison, before Ukyou scowled at Ranma and tried another spatula swipe.

Ryouga growled. This was too much; first Ranma and his constant thieving and insults, now some psycho guy with a stupid weapon thought he could get in the way of an honourable fight between him and Saotome.

"Don't." He clenched his fists. "Tell." Ranma and Ukyou ignored him, absorbed in their dance. "Me." The surrounding crowd backed away when they saw that Ryouga was so angry that he was trembling. "To." Ranma dodged another swing, before he smirked slightly. He'd worked out his opponents timing, it was time to stop dodging. "Shut." Ranma tensed almost imperceptibly, as he prepared to launch a counter-attack. "Up!" Ryouga finished biting off his words. He leapt at the other two fighters, snarling rabidly.

* * *

Did the gods smile on him, Ukyou wondered, to allow him to find Ranma after all this time, by such a thing as chance? Or, he thought, wiping the blood from his lip, were their smiles concealing mocking laughter? 

He had dreamed of this moment. To find the Saotomes, to beat them into the ground, to make them feel pain like sh... he felt, to have them apologise, to have them beg for forgiveness, to see them sorry for abandoning her... him.

Another dream turned to dust.

Everything was falling apart. In his dreams, Ranma recognised him immediately, instead of acting like he couldn't remember his 'childhood friend'. In his dreams, he was the far superior fighter, instead of the reality that Ranma was obviously holding back but still beating him. And in his dreams, no fanged idiot butted in and sucker punched him out of a closed second storey window.

At least they'd lost the idiot somewhere along the way. Now it was just him and Ranma, just like old times. But in the old times, their fights had been for fun, no-one got more than the faintest of bruises, and laughter had come often.

Ukyou wasn't laughing now. He was being driven back by the quick, testing jabs of his opponent. He still hurt from being hit through a window by the other guy; his right side ached from the jarring impact of a two storey fall. Sweat was pouring off him, he could literally feel his energy drain out of him from the intensive fight. After all the time he had spent training, all the time he had spent trying to be the best, he was being beaten. The only comfort he could take, and it was a small comfort, was that he was being beaten in a small, dingy lot, unseen by others.

Ranma grinned. It was one of those 'Thanks for the workout, but I am gonna be late for class soon' grins. Ukyou couldn't stand it, it made him feel like he wasn't being taken seriously. He redoubled his efforts in swinging his spatula in erratic, unpredictable patterns. His muscles were screaming at him, he just couldn't do this for much longer.

Chance was gazing upon Ukyou today; as Ranma took a step forward, the first move in a finishing attack, his foot slid on some loose gravel. His balance was good enough that he didn't fall, but it did mean that he couldn't dodge the next of Ukyou's incessant attacks. With a clang, the overlarge spatula impacted into Ranma's face, throwing him back and to the ground.

Ukyou looked down at his foe, as Ranma struggled to get up. He drew his spatula up, ready to drive it down. Was this it? What victory was this?

Where was the apology? Where was the vindication? Where was the sense of worth that he had always subconsciously longed for from this moment? All he felt as he stared into Ranma's unfocussed eyes was a lump in his throat and a weight in his stomach, like he'd just eaten a batch of okonomiyaki dough.

Vengeance was in his grasp. All he had to do was bring the sharpened edge of his combat spatula down, and Ranma would finally pay. All he had to do was kill his childhood friend, and... and... Ukyou opened and closed his mouth, his hands trembled.

Ranma used his opponent's hesitation to gather his wits, scrambling back and into a defensive stance. Now if only those four guys with spatulas would stand still for a second, he thought, I'd be able to finish this fight.

Ukyou looked at Ranma, then he looked down at his spatula. His hands were trembling worse than before, he couldn't hold the weapon steady. He looked up at Ranma again, before, with an almost inaudible choked sob, he turned and leaped away.

Ranma's eyes focussed in time to see Ukyou disappear over a head-high fence. What the hell was all that about? Ranma rubbed his chin, trying to think. The guy actually got lucky enough to get me in a bad position, and he runs off. Maybe he hadn't been out for blood after all, maybe he'd just been sorta play fighting, like... like... Ranma stopped rubbing his chin. Those weapons, that face, that fighting style. It had to be. He remembered now why the guy had seemed so familiar.

Ranma smiled. Ucchan.

* * *

Ukyou sobbed, burying his face into his arms. He was hunched over a small table in his apartment, having ran all the way from school. 

Men don't cry. Do they? Right now, it didn't seem to matter. He'd had Ranma at his mercy, and he'd wasted the chance.

It's just that... that... he couldn't do it. All he could think of, in the few seconds that he had held Ranma at his mercy, was of the old days, of the fun days when they were children.

"Damn him." he muttered as the tears were slowed, then stopped as depression was replaced with anger. "Damn him and his father." Damn them that he could still love Ranma, when he hated him too.

Ranma eased himself into place at the window, hanging upside-down, batlike.

"Damn them both!" Ukyou hissed, thumping the table with his right hand. "Why didn't they take me with them? Genma promised Dad he'd take me with Ranma! Did Ranma hate me so much, did Ranma tell his dad not to take me?" He thumped the table again, and again, trying to drive out the frustration.

Ranma held his hand up, ready to knock at the window pane. He hesitated, before he dropped his hand again. The seal between the window and the wall was shoddy; he'd heard every word Ukyou had said. Ucchan was hurting, and he needed a friend. But one thing made no sense. Why would Ukyou's dad get a promise out of Pop to take Ukyou with him?

Ukyou stopped banging the table when his shirt brushed against his injured side. He almost welcomed the pain, it was a distraction from things he no longer wanted to think about. With a hiss, he gingerly took his shirt off so that he could look at the damage.

Ranma narrowed his eyes. What was with the gigantic bandage?

"Geeze, talk about overreacting." Ukyou muttered as he walked over to a small cabinet. He opened it, and drew out a small bottle of disinfectant. After returning to the table, he sat again, with his back to Ranma, setting the bottle on the floor next to him.

"I mean," he muttered to himself as he started to unwind his chest binding, "acting like that over some bread. What was with that guy?" He sighed in relief as the binding came free. "Damn fool." he muttered, turning around to pick up the disinfectant bottle. Too preoccupied with his thoughts to see the mop of dark hair and steel-grey eyes peeking at the window, he turned back again.

Wow, weird, Ranma thought. If I didn't know better, I'd almost have to think that Ucchan had br... wait a minute. He... he... did have... Ranma's eyes widened in shock. His concentration shattered, he couldn't maintain his perch, and he fell out of sight. A second or two later, there was a clattering crash.

Ukyou looked up from examining his injuries. "Can't those dogs leave that rubbish pile alone for once?" he wondered, before he shook his head and returned to examining his side.

* * *

He didn't have a clue what was wrong with his friend, but one thing was clear. Ucchan blamed him. And he didn't want that, he wanted it like the old days. 

He narrowed his eyes. Damn, he'd never done this before, but he couldn't see any other way around it. It'd hurt, but there was only one way to get Ucchan back to not being angry at him.

* * *

Ukyou winced as he finished dabbing the disinfectant onto his side. He didn't know who that guy with the fangs was, but he was never going to let him get another sucker punch like that one in. 

When someone rapped at the door, Ukyou was only too glad to use it as an excuse to stop using the stinging liquid. After putting his shirt back on, he walked over to the door and opened it.

"Ucchan..." Ranma began. He didn't look that great, there were small bits of garbage hanging off him, and he had a slightly hangdog expression that looked really out of place on his face.

Ukyou's eyes widened. Then he sprang away from the door, leaping for his bandolier and the weapons it contained.

Ranma dove past the chef, grabbing the bandolier belt and combat spatula. He rolled, coming up to face Ukyou.

"Come to attack me in my own home?" Ukyou snarled, trying to snatch his weapons. Ranma kept them out of reach as he looked at his childhood friend.

"Ucchan..."

"Don't call me that!"

"Ukyou, I..."

"You what? You want another fight? Don't worry, I'll be glad to fight you again tomorrow, and I promise I won't let sentiment from the old days get in the way this time."

Ranma looked into Ukyou's eyes, and did the hardest and easiest thing he had ever done. "Ucchan... Ukyou, I'm sorry." he said, before he bowed low.  
"Please forgive me. If I'd known, I would have convinced Pop to bring you along."

Ukyou blinked, shocked. Ranma had said sorry? After all that fighting, he'd done it of his own free will?

They remained like that, frozen, Ranma keeping still in mid-bow, and Ukyou standing there staring at him. Ukyou looked at the slightly stiff stance that Ranma had taken. How much in pride had it cost him to apologise? Unless he had changed with age, Ranma was not one to apologise for anything. From everything Ukyou could read of his posture, he seemed to be sincere in his amends.

Tears flowed from Ukyou's still red-rimmed eyes. A warm glow suffused the chef's stomach. After all this time a dream had come true. All the hate, the pain, the sorrow sloughed away, replaced by an almost numbing sense of well-being, of contentment, of happiness. Ranma still cared.

Ukyou lay a hand on Ranma's shoulder, and looked into his eyes. The cook nodded. "Let's talk." And she smiled.

* * *

"You mean I never told you Ukyou was a girl?" Genma asked. 

"No!" Ranma vigorously stirred the pot of stew between them as he stared over the campfire at his father.

"Oh well." Genma shrugged. "Back when you were young, you chose okonomiyaki over Ukyou. I thought you knew. Actually..." the balding martial artist murmured, rubbing his chin, "that engagement would still be valid."

"Engagement?"

Genma stopped rubbing his chin as he realised his son had overheard him.  
"Aheh... did I forget to tell you about that too?"

* * *

Ryouga couldn't believe it. He'd made it to the cafeteria. At the right time. The very next day after he'd last been here. Without help. And the only person who dared to snatch his food was, he had been told by one of his classmates, going to be late because he was being berated by a teacher for falling asleep in class. That meant... oh gods... he'd actually get lunch today. 

"Pizza bread coming at ya!" a cry came from the cafeteria counter. There was a futile surge from the crowd of boys surrounding the food counter, but Ryouga wasn't worried. He knew from experience that he could always get the bread before the others, as long as there weren't any ponytailed thieves around.

He leaped, his arm extending, ready to gain his prize. Sunlight glinted off of the plastic wrapping, giving the food an almost holistic glow. And it was all his, his alone. His fingers opened slightly, ready to grasp the precious bread.

Then, he was falling, being forced down by something or someone. The sandwich package sailed out of his flight path, and all he could do was watch, impotently, as someone flew into view and caught the bread. To add insult to injury, that someone had leaped off his head to get the food, it was this person's weight that had sent him back to the ground prematurely.

Ryouga growled as he landed. He knew without looking that there would be two footprints on his head. And he was sick of it happening. The nearby boys backed away when they saw his face. They knew the signs by now.

"DAMMIT RAN--" Ryouga stopped short, realising that this time, it wasn't Ranma who had stolen his bread.

Ukyou looked over at him, before returning her gaze to the wrapped piece of pizza bread in her hand. "I heard from the guys in my class today about you and Ranma. Your lunchtime fights are school legend. But... bread? You're fighting over bread?"

"Don't get all righteous with me!" Ryouga growled. "It's more than bread. It's the honour of the thing! And like you can talk about grudges, the way you acted yesterday. Who are you anyway?"

"Kuonji Ukyou. Class 1-E." she replied semi-pleasantly. "And like I can talk about grudges!? You attacked me from the side yesterday! While I was fighting someone else, no less!"

"You interfered in a man-to-man fight!"

"My fight took precedence!" Ukyou protested. "It was over something better than a hunk of bread!"

"Oh, and what's that?"

"None of your business!"

"Don't talk to me like that!"

"I'll talk to someone who punched me out a window anyway I like!"

"Jerk."

"Jackass."

"Pretty boy."

"Fanged fool."

"..."

"..."

"You going to eat that bread?"

"-sigh- Here."

* * *

"You're his friend?!" Ryouga leaned against one of the schoolground's trees.

Ukyou nodded as she used her portable grill to cook up a couple of okonomiyaki. So much said between her and Ranma last night... so much unsaid. The way he'd apologised had made her wonder; did he even know about the engagement? She had been too afraid to ask, if he hadn't known, if all that time she had spent alone and angry had been for the wrong reasons... she didn't want to think about it.

"If that's your greeting for an old friend, I'd hate to see how you handle an old enemy." Ryouga muttered.

"A small misunderstanding." Ukyou answered absently.

"How can you be friends with him anyway? He's arrogant, loud-mouthed, and worst of all he steals my food."

She smiled wistfully. "He used to do that with me, it's how we met, how we became friends."

"You mean he's trying to be my friend by stealing my fair share of the food? What a load of..." Ryouga trailed off, as he thought about how Ranma kept leading him to and from home, how Ranma always tried talking to him, how Ranma was one of the few not scared by his temper and strength. "Who'd want him as a friend anyway?" He crossed his arms to emphasise his point.

"Me." Ukyou answered softly.

* * *

He looked on from his hiding spot as Ukyou and Ryouga actually got along with each other.

So much had been said last night, and so much had not been said. They had tread on eggshells, a strange experience for one as brash and as unthinking as he. But... he'd never been good at making friends, she was his first, she was his best friend. It was strange, to find out she was a girl. It was bad, to think that maybe he had something to do with this acting like a boy thing, although that was another topic they had edged around last night.

Damn it all to hell, he had cried himself to sleep the first night after he had left Ukyou seven years ago. His father had caught him, and had admonished him on his lack of manliness, of course. He'd only ever cried once since then, with the... cats.

Ukyou was something special. And, Ranma swore to himself, he wasn't going to let anything as stupid as gender, or misplaced anger, or the intervening years destroy their friendship. He nodded, accepting his promise to himself, before he walked out to join his friends.

* * *

"Heya Ucchan."

"Ranchan! I was just telling Ryouga here about the old days."

"Ucchan? Ranchan?" Ryouga twisted his lip slightly. "You've got pet names for each other? Isn't that a bit childish?"

Two sets of baleful eyes glared at him.

"Although I guess plenty of normal kids our age still have nicknames like that." Ryouga acquiesced under the combined glare.

* * *

"This is where you live?"

"Yep." Ranma nodded. "What do ya think?"

I think it's a dump, I think I wouldn't let my worst enemy live here, I think you're in real danger of catching some sort of illness from the filth surrounding that tent, I think that tent's pretty cramped for two people, I think... "It's fine, Ranchan." I think none of that would've have mattered, if I'd gone with you when we were six.

"Home I see, son." A figure lumbered out of the tent entrance. Genma. "Who's your friend?"

"Pop, this is Ukyou. You remember her." Ranma emphasised the her, since Genma had admitted last night that he had known Ukyou was a girl. Thought I knew my ass, Ranma thought to himself.

"This is little Ukyou?" Genma asked, amazed. "How are you, girl?"

"Hi Unckie Genma." Ukyou smiled, waited until Genma's guard was down, and then she kicked him in the shins.

"Ow! What was that for!?"

"You tell me!" Ukyou retorted, pulling out her combat spatula. It was a ludicrous sight, Genma easily outmassed the smaller girl, but she was threatening the elder Saotome. "Why didn't you take me with you? You made a deal with my Dad. Why didn't you honour it!?"

Ranma looked on, astonished. His father, Mr Gruff Martial Artist, was being cowed by a thirteen year old. Man, he wished he could do that. What was her secret?

"Ah... well..." Genma's eyes searched the landscape for inspiration, finally alighting on Ranma.

Ranma fought the urge to sigh. Here we go again...

"It was Ranma's decision! You see..."

* * *

"Ucchan..." Ranma crouched down next to his friend. It had taken a while to find her, after Genma's little speech. Luckily, while he had been searching the schoolgrounds, he had seen moonlight glinting off her weapons.

She dangled her legs, staring out at the faintly starred sky.

"I don't remember anything about choosing okonomiyaki over you, I swear."

"Then why'd you apologise to me?" Her voice was barely above a whisper.

"Because... well, because it was the only way I could see to get you to stop hating me," he admitted. "I knew you blamed me for something, and I didn't want it like that. You're my friend, you're my best friend. I don't want to lose that over what Pop did."

"Friend?" A moment of silence, then "Do you like me, Ranchan?"

"Sure I do." He eased from his crouch into a sitting position, putting what he thought was a friendly arm around her shoulder. "You're smart, you're fun to be with, you can cook great, you've got a great sense of humour..."

"That was me seven years ago." She didn't protest the arm, though. "You don't know what I'm like now."

"Ahhh, I know enough. Sure, finding out you're a girl was weird, but that's okay. You're still Ucchan, I can tell that just from the day or so we've been back together."

"Oh?" She turned her gaze from the sky, and looked into his eyes. "What about the engagement?"

"Uh... uh..." He started to blush. "I..." He noticed how his arm was resting across her shoulder, and how it might be more than a 'buddy' gesture. "Ah"  
He drew his arm back like it was on fire.

"I... I see..." Ukyou turned away again.

"Awww... don't be like that. I mean, it's a bit of a shock to me, finding out you're a girl and we're engaged. It's too much too soon. Anyway, we're only thirteen. Don't ya think it's a bit early to be worrying about that?"

We're engaged. Oh gods, he said it, he said it like he meant to honour it. She couldn't help it, tears formed in her eyes.

"Ucchan? What's wrong? I... I... uh... oh damn."

She smiled, wiping her eyes clean. "It's okay. You're right, it is a bit early to worry about the engagement."

Ranma sighed in relief.

"We can worry about it later on. I can wait..."

Ranma gulped.

* * *

Ukyou stared at the white paper. It stared back. She looked around her small apartment, looking for inspiration, but none came. Finally, she sighed. "Just write, he deserves to know."

She set pen to paper, and wrote.

'Hello Father. It has been a while. This is the first time I have been able to write since I came to the new school, and I have some important news for you...'

* * *

"There's something we never really talked about..." Ranma twiddled his thumbs as he leaned against one of the trees set in the schoolyard.

"Mmm?" It was turning into a ritual for the two, to find a shady tree and talk or play, while she practiced her cooking skills with the portable grill she could pull seemingly from nowhere.

"I mean, I don't want to pry or nothing..."

"Spit it out Ranchan."

"Why are you dressed as a boy, at a boy's school?"

"..."

"Ucchan?"

"They laughed at me, you know. There I was, a girl who had been stood up by her fiance, who'd had her dowry stolen. Like it had to be my fault, because I was the girl. It still stinks to be a girl in this country, Ranchan. Don't fool yourself thinking otherwise. It's the girls fault the guy ran away. The girl is unmarriable without a dowry. The girl lives in disgrace if she's left by her fiance. 'S not the same for a guy.

"I was nothing, I was a girl with no dowry, no income to help the family, I was in fact a source of shame. There were really only two choices. Keep living in shame, or start again as a boy. It didn't matter to a male Ukyou that a female one had been disgraced. It didn't matter to a male Ukyou that a female one had no dowry. Guys don't need dowrys, right?

"Why am I dressed as a boy? Because in order to keep on with my life, in the eyes of society, and, for that matter, the law, I became a boy. The boys school was supposed to be a way of making sure I was comfortable in the role. You were the added bonus of coming here." She listlessly poked at an okonomiyaki that was well into the inedible stage of being burnt.

"Oh." Ranma grimaced. He had to do something, but what? He was no good at this comforting stuff, what could he say? "Ucchan," he began as he lay a hand on her shoulder, "it's okay."

She shocked him by responding with a hug.

He stiffened as she hugged him. After a second or two of hesitation, he awkwardly patted her on the back.

"Hey, it's okay. It's okay."

* * *

"I'm telling you I don't need your help!"

"Yeah, yeah Ryouga. You always say that. If you don't need my help, then point which way the toilet is. It is your home, after all, you should know."

"It's that way."

"That's the kitchen, baka."

Ukyou looked around as the two boys settled down into a long argument. They'd helped Ryouga find his way home, apparently the guy had atrocious directional problems.

"This is a really nice place you have here." she noted when there was a pause in the argument for both boys to draw in air.

Ryouga shrugged. So it was a nice place. So what? He rarely found it, and even when he did, his parents were never there. This wasn't his home, it was just a house he occasionally slept at. "It's okay."

Ukyou resisted the urge to shake her head. Okay? Her family had scrimped and saved every yen for years to buy their own business; the yatai that Genma had stolen had been all that was left over that the Kuonjis could afford as a dowry. If there was one thing she couldn't stand, it was people not appreciating what they had. She shrugged, in the end it didn't matter, if Ryouga didn't appreciate what he had, then she couldn't do anything about it. "Yes, it's okay."

* * *

"I'm telling ya, I'm not afraid of anything."

"C'mon Ranchan, only an idiot isn't afraid of something."

"So what are you afraid of then?"

Silence. "I... I..." Being left alone.

"Whoa! Ya... ya don't have to tell me, Ucchan, if you don't want to."

"Thank you."

"But **_I_** ain't afraid of nothing."

"Prove it then."

"Okay, how?"

She glanced around, before her eyes alighted on a grill set against the school. "There." she pointed. "The basement. Dark, full of rats and roaches,  
bet you can't stay down there for five minutes."

"You're on."

* * *

"Geeze, it's dark down there." Ranma eased himself into the hole that the grill had covered, until he was hanging by his arms. "Can't even see the ground."

"Ranchan... wait. I believe you, you don't have to do this. If you can't see the ground, you could get hurt jumping."

"Hey," he smirked, looking up into her worried face, "where would I be if my best friend thought I was a coward?"

"I don't think you're a--"

He let go, and was engulfed in the darkness below. A moment, and then a slightly panicked shout. "Where's the floor!?"

"Ranchan? Ranchan!?"

Silence.

* * *

"Dammit. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Can't believe the floor was so far down. Hmmm... never gonna make it out the way I got in. Gotta find another way. How'm I gonna do that, I can't see a thing down here."

Clatter.

"Hey! Who's there?"

Purrrrr...

"No..." Barely a whisper. If there were rats, was it a wonder there were cats?

Purrrrr...rub, rub.

"C... ca... CAAATTTT--" Gotta run... gotta run... gotta... Wham.

Purrrrr...

"Get away. Get away. Get away." Scrabble, scrabble.

"Get away. Get away. Get away." Scrabble, scrabble.

"Get away. Please get away."

Scrabble.

Scrabble...

Scrabble...

Mmmrrreeoooowwwwllllllll...

* * *

"Ranchan?" Worry welled within her. Even after all they'd been through, they were still kids, and it had been a kids thing, to challenge Ranma to go down there.

Who knows what could have happened to him. He could be hurt, crying from pain. He could be dying, cursing out her name. Or he could be dead. She could lose him forever. "All my fault..." she whispered.

A flash of movement below caught her eye. "Ran--" Someone, something burst from the darkness, sailing up and past her startled eyes, before landing next to a nearby tree. "--chan!?"

It had the body of Ranma, it had the clothes of Ranma, it was not Ranma. Ranma would never stand on all fours, back arched, meowing like a cat. He hissed at an approaching teacher, before he clawed at a nearby tree. Everyone backed away when they saw that the cat-boy was slicing away at the tree without actually touching it.

"Ranchan?" What was wrong? What had happened? Had he hit his head when he fell? Would he be all right? WHAT WAS WRONG WITH RANCHAN!?

He stopped clawing, and turned his attention to her. The boys that had gathered near her backed away, nervous at the way neko-Ranma stared at Ukyou.

"Ranchan?" No easy smile from the boy, no glib remark, no intelligent glimmer in his eyes, nothing but a feral grin. The shell was there, but Ranma wasn't. And what if he was always like this...

"Ranchan... please. Come back to me." Ukyou pleaded.

Neko-Ranma cocked his head, mrowled, and then, he leaped at her.

She fell back, stifling a scream, disbelief in her eyes as her friend bore down on her, ready to...

Neko-Ranma nuzzled her cheek for a moment, before he curled up into her lap.

"Ranchan?" Ukyou whispered. His only response was to purr slightly. "Ranchan?" The surrounding students murmured over the fact that Ukyou hadn't pounded Ranma for kissing 'him', which would have been the action of any normal guy. "Ranchan?" Nothing. Her fiance just wasn't there.

Ukyou gently rocked the beast in her lap, ignoring the murmurs from the other boys. When neko-Ranma mewled, she couldn't hold it any longer. She hugged her confused fiance, sobbing "Ranchan..." over and over.

She shrugged off any attempt by the students or teachers to touch Ranma, and she pulled her combat spatula when they became more insistent. After that, none approached her. She just sat there, rocking the animal with her fiance's body. She kept rocking and rocking and rocking and...

"U...Ucchan? What's wrong?"

Relief replaced grief, and the tears flowed on as she hugged him even tighter.

* * *

Genma looked from the quivering throwing spatula that had missed him by a hairsbreadth, to the grim cook who had thrown it.

"He told me about the Neko-ken, about the pit of cats." Ukyou noted. "One day, I hope to marry Ranma. But even on that day, I will not call you Father."

She turned, and leaped away, hurrying to get away from the campsite.

* * *

"Run away with me Ranchan." There, she'd said it. She had to drag him to the most private place in the school she could think of, the roof, to do it, but she'd finally said it. "Get away from your father, please. We could go somewhere, anywhere, just you and me."

"Ucchan..."

She winced, glad that she was facing the fenced edge. His tone was all the answer she needed.

"I can't. You know the authorities would never let us live by ourselves. And he is my father."

"He doesn't deserve to be."

"That's not fair. He's always tried to do what he does best, train me. Sure,  
he's royally stuffed up a couple of times, but the old guy still does it, and he does it pretty well. Not that I'd ever admit that to him."

"I don't want you to end up like him, and I can see it happening if you stay with him."

"No. I'll never be like my father. I will be better. I swear it."

"You were defending him a moment ago."

"I didn't say he was perfect, he ain't, and I sure wouldn't want to turn out like him. I'm just saying he ain't as bad as you think."

"I've yet to see proof of that, Ranchan."

Ranma sighed. Sometimes, he wondered about his dad. But Genma was his father. That counted for something.

* * *

"Hey, uh, Ucchan, I..."

"Yes?"

"I saw a poster for an interesting movie. I managed to get some money out of Pop, do ya, well, wanna go?"

"A... a movie? Who else are you inviting?"

"Well, no-one. Ryouga's gone off somewhere, like that's a surprise. No-one else around here I want to go with, so it'd be just me and you."

"I... I'd love to go."

* * *

"So what's this called again?" She nervously shifted in her seat. She and Ranma were out on a... well, it couldn't be called a date. They had gone to see a movie, anyway. Just a buddy thing. Just him and her in a dark theatre, the nearest person three rows away, one tub of popcorn between them... Curse it, she thought happily, it's a date in my books.

"Death Ninja Robot Attack Force Versus the Killer Brain-Sucking Alien Horde" Ranma mumbled between mouthfuls of popcorn.

Silence, out of respect for the cheesy giant monster death scene playing out on the screen. Slowly, nervously, she edged her hand over so that it rested up against his. Silence again.

"Uhh... Ucchan..."

"Yes?" Please, let him say something romantic. Please.

"Want some popcorn?"

It'd do, she decided. "Sure."

* * *

Several students sat around, discussing matters.

"Look, you see the way those two act around each other. They're pretty cosy,  
even for best friends."

"Remember when Saotome went all weird, with that cat thing? He kissed Kuonji,  
and Kuonji didn't get angry at all."

"Maybe he was too worried. I mean, how'd you feel if your best friend up and started acting like that?"

"Even so, it was pretty understanding. And what about that time Kenji and Yoshio saw Ranma and Ukyou hugging?"

"I saw them sitting pretty close in a theatre once. I was a few rows back,  
but it was still pretty obvious."

"Ever notice, sometimes, the way Kuonji looks at Saotome? Pretty damn friendly look, if you ask me."

"But what about Ranma?"

"He sure doesn't seem to mind..."

"Well..."

"Well..."

"Huh..."

"So they're gay. Whadda we do?"

"Hope they don't think we're pretty? They could wipe the floor with us, they're far beyond us in martial skill."

"I reckon it'd be best if we just keep quiet. If they think their secret's threatened, they might beat the living tar out of us. You saw the way that Kuonji guy acted the first day he got here. Sure, he's been okay since then, but I still don't think he's stable, especially not after that time when Saotome went weird like a cat."

"I wonder if Hibiki is gay too?" Deathly silence from the last speaker's friends. After a second or two, the boy sighed. "He's behind me, isn't he?"

Nod. Nod. Nod.

"Damn."

Nod. Nod. Nod.

* * *

Ryouga seethed. He was good at that. All that talk about trying to be friends, all a lie. It was obvious now what Ranma had been trying to do, all those times Saotome had led him home.

Ranma had been trying to take advantage of him.

Ryouga clenched his fists. He'd have none of it, he wasn't that way. And Ranma would pay, for playing with his emotions like that. Ranma would pay, for lying to him. Ranma would pay, for not being the friend he claimed to be.

"Heya Ryouga!" Ranma slapped the other boy on the shoulder.

"Get offa me!" Ryouga squirmed out from under Ranma's grasp.

"Geeze, what's up your butt?"

Ryouga's face turned slightly green as some images ran through his mind. He started to say something, but decided that rushing to the bathroom was a better idea. He raced off, in the vain hope that for once, he could get to where he wanted to go. Otherwise, things were going to get messy.

"What the hell?" Ranma shook his head. Lunch around this school just got stranger and stranger.

* * *

He sat with a sigh next to her, as she practised her cooking on her portable grill. This time of year always brought him down, and the weird way the other guys had been acting around him lately just made it worse.

"Something wrong Ranchan?"

"Nah, it's nothing."

"Well, here." A flip of a hand spatula, and an okonomiyaki sailed off the portable grill. Ranma caught it with detached ease. He was about to eat it when he noticed that for once, Ukyou hadn't drawn a silly face on it.  
Blinking, he took a closer look. "Happy birthday Ranchan?"

"I did remember the right date, didn't I?" She was worried, she'd been so sure she had remembered the date correctly, but it had been seven years. How embarrassing...

"Yeah, it's..." All that moving about, living on the road, no-one ever knew it was his birthday. Pop didn't even bother mentioning it anymore. "Thank you." barely a whisper, and he was embarrassed to acknowledge gratitude for such a small thing.

"You'd remember for me, right? I couldn't do any less for you."

* * *

"Ranchan!"

"Ucchan! Hey, what's up?" They walked into the schoolgrounds, ready(if not willing) to start another day.

"I managed to convince the local okonomiyaki store owner to hire me, under the counter since I'm so young. I'll be able to get in practice, and I'll be earning some extra money."

"That's great! Man, I wish I could earn money like that. It just drags sometimes, having to borrow offa my dad."

"Don't worry, if worse comes to worse, I can always support you."

"No. No, I'm not gonna be a freeloader like my dad. I'll think of someway to support myself eventually. If nothing else, when I'm older I can always teach martial arts or something."

"Hope you're a better teacher than a student."

"Hey!"

"-snicker- Sorry, couldn't resist."

* * *

"So this is where you work, huh?" Ranma looked around. Not a bad place, as far as okonomiyaki stores went. A little dingy though.

"Yep." Ukyou never looked down, but still she managed to expertly flip two okonomiyaki over. It was no wonder the owner had hired her despite her age, she was a prodigy, it would be a waste for her talents not to be used.

"Not bad."

Ukyou glanced around, making sure that no-one else was near. Turning back to Ranma, she whispered "One day, I'll have my own place. Then you'll see what an okonomiyaki store was meant to be."

Ranma grinned, holding up his soft drink in a mock toast. "And I'll be your first customer."

* * *

"Heya Ucchan."

"Hmm? Oh, hi Ranchan." She looked up. She had been staring at something in her open palm as she sat on one of the store's stools.

"You on break?" He sat next to her.

"Uh huh." She looked back down to her hand.

"What are those?"

"Hmm?" She showed her palm to him. Nestled there were two tiny silver earings, shaped like spatula.

"Hey, they're pretty nice, I guess, if you're a girl of course."

"They were my mother's. They're the one thing of hers I always kept, no matter what."

"Oh. So why are you looking at them now? Thinking of wearing them?" He smiled at his joke.

"Maybe." She sighed, before she pulled a small jewellery box out of a pocket, and carefully put the earrings into it. With a snap, she shut the jewellery box.

* * *

Ukyou closed the apartment door behind her. She rested against the door for a second, before she sighed. Going to school, hanging out with Ranma, and then working at the restaurant was a real killer. And she'd have it no other way.

With a groan, she pushed herself off the door. After she had divested herself of her bookbag, her bandolier, and its weapons, she took a closer look at the letters she had brought in with her.

"Bill, junk, junk, and lucky last is..." she trailed off as she looked at the strong, economical penstrokes on the last letter. She didn't need to see the sender's name to know who this came from. It was from her father. She stared at the letter. It stared back.

* * *

"So, do you haveta go?" Ranma asked, trying to look nonchalant by scuffing the ground with one of his shoes. He looked over at Ukyou, who was scanning a large board for bus departure times.

Ukyou turned from the board to look at Ranma, putting down her travelling bag as she did. "Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah." Ranma muttered, turning his gaze out to the bus bays.

"He's my father, Ranchan." Ukyou said after a few seconds of silence between them. "And he wants to see me. I... we... well, we're not the closest of families. But he is still my dad, and I can't not go. It's funny, but I still don't want to disappoint him. I think you'd understand that if no-one else could."

"I guess. I just... I dunno... I still remember your father. What's he gonna do when you tell him what happened? He was an okay guy, with the way he always gave me free food, but he never seemed like the happiest guy around. I bet he won't like ya renewing the engagement."

"Don't worry!" Ukyou assured, smiling, as she lay a hand on Ranma's shoulder. "Nothing's going to happen. You worry too much," she grinned, before she added, "Sugar."

Ranma flushed at being called 'Sugar'. She'd done it before, when she was cooking something for him. Somehow, the word took on a different meaning altogether in the uncomfortable setting of saying goodbye.

A slightly crackled announcement burst out of the bus depot's intercom.

"Well, that's my call." Ukyou said, reluctant to end the moment. She opened her mouth, about to say something, before she changed her mind, shutting her mouth. "I gotta go." She bent down, picked up her bag, before she straightened, looking back to Ranma. "I'll be back in a couple of days, so I guess I'll see you then, Ranchan."

"I'll be here." Ranma promised.

Ukyou nodded, before she turned, and started to head over to a nearby lineup for the bus she had booked for. She'd only taken a few steps before she slowed, hesitated, and finally stopped. Impulsively, she dashed back, lightly kissed Ranma on the lips, before she darted back to stand in the queue.

Ranma stood there, unmoving, until long after Ukyou had boarded the bus. He shook himself out of his standing coma just in time to wave to her as the bus left, before he walked off, absently touching his lips.

* * *

"You lied to me Ranma!" Ryouga pointed an accusing finger at his 'friend'. It had taken him days to get back to school after his last encounter with Ranma.

"Huh?" Ranma replied wittily.

"Don't try and act innocent with me Saotome!"

"What the hell are you talking about Ryouga? I thought we were past this stage of our relationship."

"R... relationship!? That does it! I almost didn't believe what they said about you, Saotome. I almost didn't believe the rumours. But I can see now what you really wanted from me, and it wasn't my friendship. Tomorrow, the empty lot near my house. A duel."

"A duel? Why do ya want a duel? And what rumours?"

"I thought I could trust you. I thought what you really wanted was to be my friend. I thought wrong. You want to know what rumours? Then be at the duel. Be there, if you have any honour at all."

"Fine, I'm there. But..." Ranma sighed as Ryouga walked away. "What rumours?" he growled, but none of the boys within earshot chose to answer.

* * *

Ranma sighed as he ducked into the tent that served as his home. School had been pretty boring today, he hadn't realised just how much he'd come to rely on Ukyou for companionship. Without her there, he had tried to hang out with some of the other boys, but, for some reason, nearly everyone had been nervous around him. Sort of like how the guys had been reacting in the showers lately, like there was something wrong with him. It was frustrating, and it had made for a bad day. It didn't help that he'd waited for Ryouga at the spot nominated, the second day he'd done this, and Ryouga still hadn't turned up. At least now the day was over.

"Ah, home from school, eh boy?" Genma asked, looking up from where he was sitting cross-legged on his bedroll.

"Ya." Ranma grunted, collapsing onto his own cramped-up roll. He closed his eyes, sighing, half-knowing that his father would take it as an opportunity to 'train' him by doing a sneak attack.

"Well, good news. I've finally managed to earn..." Genma's face twisted a little, certainly far less than he had the truth in that sentence fragment, "...enough to support us over in China for a while."

"China?" Ranma's eyes shot open. "Whaddya mean China!? Since when were we going there!?"

"Since always, boy. I just never told you. Just think, some of the greatest and oldest martial training sites will now be open to us. Think of what you can learn, think of the opportunities!"

"Aw man..." Ranma groaned. "What'll Ucchan say when she gets back, only to find out I'm going to the mainland?"

"Gets back? I'm afraid that we'll be leaving before she gets back. Tomorrow, in fact. Sorry, son. That's just the way it happened."

"Come on Ranma, it's time to go." Genma shucked his pack, glancing around the empty lot that had served as their home for the past six months. Satisfied that he hadn't left anything behind, he turned to face his son.

"I ain't going." Ranma declared.

"What do you mean you're not going?" Genma asked. "Boy, we are going to China. You've had enough time to play with your friends, now it's time to accept a man's responsibilities. You are the heir to the Saotome School of Martial Arts. You are a Saotome. And, as your father, your sensei, and as the head of the Saotome clan, I am telling you; come with me now, or be neither heir to the School or a Saotome any longer. Obey your father in this one, son. I know what's best."

Ranma clenched his fists. "I'm leaving Ucchan a note."

Genma scowled slightly, before nodding.

* * *

Ranma looked around at the cramped living/leisure/dining/tv room of Ukyou's apartment. He'd only been here a couple of times, but Ukyou had given him a set of spare keys, in case he wanted to 'Just come over' or 'Get away from your father for a while' as Ukyou had put it.

There wasn't much of Ukyou's character in the apartment, she'd apparently left it as her uncle had. In fact, the only things that Ukyou normally had to mark the apartment as hers were her portable grill(which she had taken with her on her trip), and...

Ranma walked over to the small, low table that took up a precious amount of space in the cramped quarters. Dining table, card table, study desk, it served all those purposes, and one other: mantelpiece. There was only one photo frame currently on the table, Ukyou had taken another couple with her as reminders, but the remaining photo was still enough to make Ranma wince slightly from guilt. It was of him and Ukyou, arms around each other's shoulders in a 'buddy' pose, each with wide grins plastered on their faces. Man, he thought, she is not going to be happy about this.

"I want to be the best, I want to be the heir," Ranma muttered as he pulled a slightly rumpled letter from underneath his shirt. "I can't afford not to go, I think he was actually serious about disowning me if I did. If I'm not a student of the Saotome Ryuu, if I can't one day teach the style as a honoured master instead of some outcast vagrant, then what am I? Nothing, I ain't ever been good enough at anything else to make a living."

"But Pops ain't as smart as he thinks." Ranma continued, as he carefully propped the letter up next to the photo frame. "He might be able to justify kicking me out if I don't go with him, but if you follow us to China, then there's no way he'll be able to do anything about it. Heh, he always does lose that holier-than-thou honour thing whenever you're around. No way he'd try anything like this if you were here."

"So... uh..." he nervously scratched his head as he backed up to the door. "It's all there in the letter, Ucchan. Where we're going in China, which training sites we'll be visiting, everything you'd ever need to find us. So... that is, if ya want to, you can... you know..." Ranma struggled for words. Finally, he just gave up, opening the door. "See ya Ucchan. See ya soon...?" he trailed off, shaking his head for wasting so much time speaking to an empty room, before he left, closing the door behind him.

A few seconds after the door shut, there was a slight clink as one of the apartment's windows was opened. With a muffled curse, Genma fell into the room. He darted his gaze around the room as he adjusted his thief's mask. When his eyes alighted on the letter, he gave a small smile as he walked over to the table.

"I am sorry, Ranma, but this isn't the best course for you." Genma muttered, pocketing the letter. "The Saotome and Tendo lines are to be united through you and one of Soun's daughters. Too much is riding on that for it to be ruined by one moment of hunger when I was younger. Ukyou was a mistake, one I'm rectifying right now."

Genma padded over to the window. He climbed out, closing the pane behind him, before he nodded. "Better for both of you if she never sees you again. One day, you'll thank me son, when you're the master of the Saotome-Tendo dojo."

* * *

She had come back from her trip home with new determination. The time at her father's house had finally convinced her; it was time to get Ranma to take her out on a proper date. The very first thing she had done when she reached her apartment was to take off her chest binding. Then, for the first time since she was a little girl, she put on a dress. It had not been easy to buy that dress, it had been a fight against a part of herself. Having the store clerks giving 'him' strange looks hadn't helped either. But it had been worth it, she decided. It'd knock Ranchan's socks off.

Twenty minutes of brushed hair later, Ukyou had pulled her mother's earrings out and, after a second's hesitation, she affixed one to each ear. They had been a final gift from her mother, and were the one feminine thing Ukyou had kept during the time she had been totally immersed in her male disguise. Even so, it had not been easy to go and get her ears pierced. She had done that while she had been home. Her father had been furious; she didn't care.

After she had performed the last touch - twining a bright little flower into her hair - she left her apartment, ready to talk to Ranma, to catch up on anything that had happened while she was gone, and to take him out somewhere where, for once, they could enjoy each other's company as girl and guy.

Ukyou left hand nervously bunched up the unfamiliar feeling fabric of her skirt. With a small smile, and a slightly uncertain blush from the looks she was getting, she strode towards the Saotome campsite. As she walked, she snuck a slightly apprehensive glance at the clouded sky. Yes, she thought, definitely have to go to a movie or something else indoors. I wonder what Ranchan'll think when he sees me like this...

* * *

It was a miserable afternoon. Angry clouds, muttering with thunder and glaring with lightning, had unleashed their fury in a torrent of rain.

At an abandoned lot, Ukyou stood. Just stood, as she stared at a large puddle that had once been the base of the Saotome's tent. The driving rain plastered her clothes to her thin frame, turning her hair into a stringy mess. The flower in her hair had suffered from the rain's force, it was already missing several petals.

Her knees gave out, squelching into the muddy ground, spraying flecks of wet earth all over her dress.

Nothing, no explanation, no apologies, they just left, leaving her behind. Again. All of it a lie, all of his pretend friendship, just to keep her from his throat until he could slip away like a thief in the night.

There was one good thing about the driving rain; it masked the tears that flowed down her cheeks.

It's got to be a misunderstanding, he can't have left.

She bowed her head.

He wouldn't have left if he loved me.

She dropped forward, burying her arms into the mud.

If he loved me...

She shivered, curling up in the mud.

He doesn't love me...

* * *

Author notes: Ranma might seem to people that he's pretty desperate to keep Ukyou's friendship. Yes, he is. He has no Akane, no Tendos, no miscellaneous Furinkan boys(Hiroshi/Daisuke), no Shampoo, just Ryouga. I think at this stage of his life(at any stage of his life), Ranma was a lonely soul. Look to the way he kept trying to be friends with Ryouga, when indications were that Ryouga wasn't anywhere near as friendly back. It seems like the actions of someone desperate for a friend to me. Any wonder he does what he can to regain his oldest, best friend?

New Note (Jan 2007): This was a story that had the first two chapters originally written (and submitted to Usenet's RAAC) in 1997.


	2. Chapter 2

Characters are the brainchild(ren) of Takahashi Rumiko. No disrespect is intended in their use. 

Gender pronouns in this fic are used very deliberately - they rely on a character's attitude,and not their body. For example, onna-Ranma will be referred to as he. So it's not a mistake when you see Ukyou sometimes being referred to as 'he' and sometimes as 'her'.

"Lone and alone she lies,  
Poor Miss 7,  
Five steep flights from the earth,  
And one from heaven;  
Dark hair and dark brown eyes-  
Not to be sad she tries,  
Still - still it's lonely lies  
Poor Miss 7"  
- "Poor 'Miss 7'" by Walter De La Mare

* * *

There should be a wind. There ought to be a cold wind blowing, it ought to scream out in almost human frustration, it should howl around her, it should bite at her with its frozen teeth. It should ruffle her clothes as she stood there, feet on the edge, staring out at the night view from the top of the multi-storey school. 

But there was no wind, no sweetly bitter bite of air, only silence. Sweet mercy... such silence...

One step. One easy step, and the pain would go, the self-hate would no longer matter, the questions that hurt and hurt and hurt would stop.

Stop. Ignore the siren's song. This way would not give the one thing left that was so desperately wanted: an answer.

Why? She raised her head to the dark-lit sky.

Why did he lie to me?

She waited a moment, almost as if expecting a reply to the unvoiced question.

Why didn't he love me?

She looked down at the empty schoolyard.

If he did, why did he go?

She clenched her fists.

I have to know.

* * *

The way the boys looked at her, the way the conversations dulled and stopped whenever she got close, the way laughter would follow behind her like a yapping lapdog, the way the teachers talked to her in tones that reeked of hidden pity... 

They knew. They all knew.

It was happening again. The mocking would start again. She couldn't handle it again.

She left at lunchtime, to chase up an overheard rumour.

* * *

"Where the hell is he? He's supposed to be here! Why isn't he here?" Impotent rage, fury directed to an uncaring summer sky. "Where is he!?" 

"He isn't here."

Ryouga whirled to face the new voice. "Oh, it's you. What do you mean, he's not here? Where's Saotome, Ukyou?"

"Gone."

"Don't tell me you're here to fight for him?"

"...No."

"Then...?" Rage ebbed slightly, as curiosity surfaced.

"I looked for you to see if you knew why... but you don't know, do you?"

"Know what?"

"Why... why did he leave...?"

"HE WHAT?!"

* * *

Why... 

The owner of the Super Soba Store scratched his head, looking at the brown haired youth before him.

"Huh. Don't know much about his kid, besides what Saotome told me, whenever he ate here. But I remember how he kept talking about how he was going to take his son to all sorts of places."

"Could you please tell me where?"

"I don't know, really, I think he was talking about going south, or possibly over to Korea or Taiwan, possibly even China, or maybe up north along the coast. It all depended on the day, Saotome was changing his 'itinerary' all the time. Kept saying it was all for his son. Guess the kid really wanted to travel, huh?"

"...Thank you."

* * *

Why... 

"Saotome Ranma?" The school administrative officer blinked. "Yes, he and his father arranged for him to be transferred out of the school two days ago."

"Could you tell me if they said why?"

"Just moving to a new area. Happens all the time. Why exactly do you want to know?"

"He was my friend."

* * *

Why... 

The farmer scratched his head. "Short ponytail huh? Yeah, yeah. Damn right I saw him and his father. About a week ago. Came through here, the old guy said they'd work for food. Damn thieves ate the food, and ran off. You gonna pay for what they ate?"

"No. But thank you, for the help."

* * *

Why... 

"I think maybe they went that way. Don't know, got better things to notice than that."

Why...

"Saotome? Never heard of them."

Why...

"No, haven't seen anyone looking like that. A ponytail, huh?"

Why...

"Nope."

Why...

"Sorry."

Why...

"Can't help you."

Why...

"Go _**away**_ kid."

* * *

Why? 

Ukyou stared out at the sea, hands around the shaft of a battle spatula. Nothing, the trail was cold. The Saotomes were gone, and the young chef didn't know where to look next.

Why did he leave her?

The okonomiyaki ninja was a mess; grime and tattered clothes evidence of a long, hard search.

Why? Because he didn't want her...

Ukyou screamed out, yelling primal frustration, smashing the weapon deep into the hard ground.

"Fine! Fine!" he raged, angry tears washing some of the dirt from his face. "So he doesn't want me! Fine! Then I don't want him! Hah! That's right! As far as I'm concerned, if I never see him again, it would be...

"Never..." he sighed, slumping to the ground, the rage seeping out. Somehow, it didn't seem worth it anymore. Nothing seemed worth it.

* * *

"Come on, come on..." Ranma scanned the horizon again, turning through 360 degrees, straining his eyes to their utmost. 

"Let's go, Ranma."

"Just five minutes more, Pop."

"Why? Admiring the scenery?"

"Maybe."

"Well you can admire it as we walk. We're done with this training ground. It's time to move."

"In a minute."

"Now, boy!"

"Alright, alright." He scooped his pack off the ground, grunting, before he mumbled to himself "Be at the next place for sure."

"Ranma!"

He shook his head. "Yeah, yeah! I'm coming! Keep your hair on!"

* * *

"Have you seen a fat bald man and a guy about my age, with black hair tied in a small ponytail?" The words had been said so often, they were burned into his memory. Ryouga waited for a response from the small man he had asked. 

He waited a little longer.

He started to steam as the little man said something in another language, probably Chinese.

Giving up the conversation as a bad joke, he left the man, growling as he walked away. "Dammit! Don't people speak Japanese in Japan!?" he snarled, annoyed at his fruitless search. "I'll never find that coward at this rate," Ryouga muttered as he walked out of Beijing's city limits.

* * *

Time. They say it heals all wounds. 

If only.

* * *

"I'm telling you, she wants to go out with you." The small, frizzy-haired boy grinned at his silent, ponytailed companion. 

"I don't really--"

"Come on! She's cute, she's funny, she's available and she wants you! Sweet sixteen, never been kissed... you know, all that stuff. What more do you want?"

"I don't know anymore."

"You're ruining my reputation as school matchmaker, you know."

"Sorry."

"If you don't like girls, it's, you know, okay. If you'd like, I could arrange--"

"No! Not a boy! Never a boy." Never again.

"So what's the problem? You've got the looks, the smarts and the charm. If you stopped moping around, you'd have the girls falling all over you."

"Maybe that's not what I want."

"So what do you want? You're ruining my perfect matchmaking record!"

"I don't know..."

"-sigh- Fine, fine. I know when I'm beat. Pity, she'll be very disappointed. The other girls will never let her live it down, being rejected by a handsome guy like you." The small boy sighed again, shrugged, and turned, ready to walk away.

"...Wait."

The small boy grinned. Gotcha.

"...I'll... I'll take her to the movies."

"Great! Great! It'll be good to see you get out, you know. You're so gloomy, Ukyou. You could do with a bit of a female's touch."

"..."

* * *

A nice little street, somewhere or another, just after a pleasant summer shower. 

"YOU DID _**WHAT?!**_"

Pause. Silence. More silence. And then...

"Come here, Pop."

Pause.

"No, no really. Just come here."

Silence.

"Where are you going, Pop?"

Pause. Then the growing sound of running feet and... paws?

A panda bear tore around a corner, hoving into view. It almost fell over from its sharp turn, before it regained its balance, racing down the street.

"POP!" A redheaded girl raced out after the animal. "I can't believe you! Engaging me! _**AGAIN!**_"

The panda was too busy running away to make a reply.

"Get back here!!!"

Get real, the panda thought.

* * *

"I can't believe I'm doing this." He groaned, rubbing at his temples, before he shook his head. "Too late now. Far too late. Can't back out, can't do that to the girl." 

He leaned down, looking into the mirror of the small bathroom, making sure his clothes were on right. After he rearranged a few strands of his chestnut hair, he straightened his stance.

"I can't believe I'm doing this." he repeated. He squared his shoulders and walked out of the bathroom as he tried to remain calm.

He walked over to the small drawer that stood next to the empty space where his futon was placed at nights. He crouched down before opening the top drawer with a protesting wooden scrape.

"Guess I had to start this sooner or later, if I'm to fulfil the obligations of 'first son'." He drew out a small jewellery box and stared at it. Slowly, carefully, he opened it. The teenager stayed there for five minutes, staring at the open box, keeping in his crouch.

"Damn." The jewellery box snapped shut, covering a glint of silver. After gently placing the box back in the drawer and closing it, the boy stood.

"A date," he muttered, walking over to the front door. He opened it and stepped through, shaking his head. "Madness." And he closed the door behind him.

* * *

"Hot enough for you?" The beachside drinks vendor sighed, mopped his brow, before he looked at his customer. 

The boy did not reply, he was absorbed in staring at the sea.

"Is something wrong?"

"What?" Ryouga blinked, tearing his gaze from the water. "No. Just thinking how nice it would have been to go for a swim."

"So why don't you?"

"Because... just because."

* * *

"So that's five deluxe okonomiyaki." The fortyish, slightly balding chef blinked, looking at his customer. 

Ranma nodded. "Yeah." Damn, wish I could afford more, I'm really hungry.

He looked around at the small shop. It had been a bit of a trek to find the place, but... "Hey... you wouldn't have a girl, about my age, working here? Brown hair, er... probably kinda cute?" He tugged nervously on his pigtail.

"Afraid not." What, does my shop look like a dating agency?

"How about a guy?"

The chef tossed the first okonomiyaki in front of the boy. "Just eat your food."

* * *

A group of girls gathered. 

"He was so... so understanding," the girl who was the centre of attention said excitedly.

"Go on, go on."

"We went to the movies. I thought I'd test him by choosing a romantic film. He didn't complain once, he sat through the entire movie, even though I could tell he wanted to go to the Jackie Chan one instead."

"And then?"

"Yeah, don't stop there, girl!"

"We had a bite to eat at the local beef-bowl, we talked, and then he walked me home via the park gardens."

"Ooohhhhh, the gardens. Did you..."

"No, and that's just it. Most guys, you go out with them, you know they just want one thing."

"For you to pay the bill?"

"Okay, okay. Two things. But Ukyou wasn't like that. I even offered to kiss him goodnight--"

"Well that was a bit forward!"

"Stop living in the past. I'm a modern girl, and modern girls can be forward if they want. Anyway, I offered to kiss him, but he said he didn't want me to get hurt."

"You weren't insulted by that? Sounds like a brush-off to me."

"You didn't see his face. I think he's just been hurt in a relationship before, and he's afraid to get close to anyone."

"He always seems so sad."

"Maybe he just needs the right person to cheer him up."

"Hmm..."

"Hmm."

"I wonder if he's free on Saturday night..."

"Or Sunday..."

* * *

"Bread?" 

Ryouga snorted. Finally, after all this time, he was facing his enemy. Finally, he had found Ranma. He pointed to his once-friend, as a crowd of students looked on at the showdown.

"You think this is about bread?!"

Ryouga glanced around. Of course, it would have to be in a schoolground. How appropriate, to be facing him again in a place like the one where the duel challenge had been made.

"This was never about bread. It isn't even about you being gay, and how you tried to take advantage of me. No, my quarrel goes beyond such petty things!"

Silence. Eerie silence. And then, a quiet, too quiet response from Ranma. "Excuse me? My being what?"

* * *

A cold ball of embarrassment settled into Akane's stomach as she watched the showdown between Ranma and the bandannaed boy break down into a brawl. 

He's gay? He's gay? She shook her head; trying to ignore the looks the other students were giving her as she sorted things out in her head.

It didn't make sense. Did it? Ranma, Mr Macho, was homosexual? This Ryouga boy had obviously thought so, despite Ranma's violent response.

And yet...

Ranma had not acted like a normal guy on the first day he had met Akane. What were those words again? 'No big deal for me to see a naked girl'? Maybe he hadn't been referring to his being used to seeing his female side after all.

And there was one time, where she had barged into his room after a fight. He'd been lying on his futon, staring at a photo. In that split second, before he'd covered his expression with the usual stupid look, she'd seen a strange... almost longing look on his face. Their conversation had taken a turn for the worse, she'd knocked him unconscious, and out of curiosity she had looked at the photo.

The photo had been of a young boy, with unusually long chestnut hair, tied into a ponytail. The date on the back indicated that the boy would be around the same age as her and Ranma. She had figured maybe the boy was an old friend of Ranma's. Maybe she'd figured wrong.

But if he was gay... why hadn't he had the decency to tell her? They were engaged for pity's sake! She deserved to know!

She sighed, shaking her head as the two boys continued to battle in the background. Of course he wouldn't have told her. After all, he hadn't told her about the curse until he had to. And her reaction to that probably ensured that any further secrets of his would never be told to her.

And Mr Saotome always took great exception to Ranma's acting as anything less than a true man, always getting angry at the slightest hint of weakness from the boy. Would it be any wonder, then, that Ranma would deny to any and all his true nature, if he were gay, if he feared that word would reach his father?

Not to mention how her own father would react, if he found out that the only Saotome son had little chance of fulfilling any marriage obligations. Was it any wonder Ranma had kept quiet, with all these reasons? No, she admitted to herself, as much as she wished otherwise, she couldn't blame him for this.

The embarrassment faded, replaced by an almost guilty relief. The engagement didn't matter anymore; she had an acceptable reason to back out now. And without the ever present threat of wedding kimonos, perhaps... perhaps there was a possibility of something happening, something that had first been destroyed by her belief that Ranma had enjoyed seeing her naked on that first day in the bath. Perhaps, without the threat of having to keep him at arm's distance, like any normal boy, she and Ranma could...

She and Ranma could be friends.

* * *

"C'mon Ukyou, we're friends, aren't we?" The matchmaker grinned nervously. 

"I'm starting to wonder. What the hell is this?" The cook waved a sheet of paper at the smaller boy.

The matchmaker pulled at the collar of his tight school shirt.

Ukyou cleared his throat, and started to read the sheet of paper. "Saeko, Saturday, lunch. Mai, Saturday, dinner. Kimiko, Sunday, breakfast. Breakfast?! What the hell is this all about?"

"Umm... It's your date list."

"What?"

"Your date list. I don't know what you did on that first date, but I'd be willing to pay money to learn. Some of the girls are very interested in learning more about you. So, of course, they came to me to arrange things."

"Maybe I don't want them to learn more about me. Did you think of that?"

"I don't see what your problem is here. You said you enjoyed the movie, right?"

"As a one-off, innocent, two-friends-at-a-movie sort of way, yes! That didn't mean I wanted to do it again with half the girls from school!"

"You know, I've never seen you this emotional. Emotion is good, right?"

A click, a leather rasp, and a battle spatula brought to the ready as an answer.

"Oh, I see. Emotion is bad."

* * *

Onna-Ranma muttered as he stripped, keeping one foot on the struggling piglet that Akane had just found. "Damn Ryouga. Attacking me at school and at night. And damn him for spreading those rumours about me! He's gone too far." 

He picked up the piglet, and looked at the bath. "Even Akane believed him! Argh! Why doesn't anyone ever believe me?" He looked the piglet in the eyes. "Do you believe me, little pig?"

The piglet shook its head in a negative gesture, before it went back to trying to escape.

"Damn," onna-Ranma muttered. "I swear, when I see Ryouga again--" he casually tossed the piglet into the hot bathwater.

Ryouga, returned to his human form, quickly covered himself with his hands. He didn't want Ranma to get any ideas.

"...I'll kill you!" onna-Ranma screamed, lunging forward, wrapping his hands around Ryouga's throat. Normally, he was a most even-tempered person. But with one short sentence in front of the Furinkan students, Ryouga had given an almost fatal blow to his male ego. Right now, Ranma wasn't overly rational.

"Ack!" Ryouga acked. "Stop... trying to... hug me! I've told you... I'm not... that -wheeze- way."

"I AM NOT TRYING TO HUG YOU!"

* * *

"Mr Saotome." Akane turned from the half-open outer bathroom door to look at the panda. She glanced down at the bath equipment in his paws. 

"Gruffle."

Rain thundered in sharp staccato onto the roof, forcing her to raise her voice. "Do you mind if I use the bath first? I just can't get back to sleep, I was hoping a quick hot bath might help."

"Gruffle."

"Thank you."

Akane stepped into the bathroom annex as the panda shuffled back to his room. She was about to take off her clothes when she heard a slight thump from the bathroom. It was hard to tell what the sound was, over the background noise of the rain.

"Ranma?" He couldn't still be taking a bath, could he? "Is there anyone in there?"

She hesitated, waiting for a response. Another thump, followed by the sound of what may have been flesh striking tiles. "Ranma?" She knocked, waited again, before she cautiously slid the inner bathroom door open.

She looked. She blinked. She looked again. Then she silently slid the door closed again.

"Ranma. In his girl form. Rolling around the floor with Ryouga. Naked." She pondered this for a few moments, rubbing her chin. "I'll kill him. I'll kill him dead. I'll..." She shook her head. "No, no I guess if that's the way he is, hitting him won't do anything to help. Still, he should be more careful. If his father had walked in..."

She shook her head, walking out into the hall. "At least now I know for certain..." she mused, walking back to her room.

* * *

A small piglet, bleeding from several small wounds, burst out of the Tendo house. Seconds later, a red haired girl dressed only in a towel, followed. A few minutes of fruitless searching later, onna-Ranma gave up looking for Ryouga. 

He took one last look around the dark street, before he walked back into the Tendo yard, muttering to himself.

"This ain't over, pig."

* * *

"Ranma, where's that piglet I found?" 

"I'm sorry, Akane. He ran off before I could get him."

"Dammit Ranma, I trusted you to take care of the poor little thing while you were bathing him. I can't believe you got so distracted in..."

"In what?"

"...Nothing. But you shouldn't have lost the piglet like that."

"Well, I'm sorry about the pig. I honestly wished he'd stuck around. I really did want to take care of him."

* * *

The walk to school was a good time to talk. 

"Look, I swear, it's all a lie. I don't even know where Ryouga got this stupid idea from!"

"You don't have to worry, Ranma. I understand. You don't want people to know because it might get back to your father. It's okay. I understand now why you were so angry at my accusing you of being a pervert that day when you arrived."

"Akane, I wasn't angry at you calling me a pervert because I was gay, I was angry because you called me a pervert. Wait a minute. That didn't come out right..."

"Hey, it's okay. Kind of a relief, really. It takes a lot of the pressure off this stupid engagement."

"But I... but... _damnit_." This sucks.

* * *

Where in the world am I now? It was a question that was ingrained into Hibiki Ryouga's soul. As much as he hated getting lost, as much as it embarrassed him, there was a paradoxical ease of familiarity in looking around, and not recognising anything. After all, he'd been getting lost all his life, was it any wonder he could sometimes find comfort in not knowing where he was? It was one of his oldest fears that one day he'd develop a sense of direction, only to find out that he missed getting lost. 

One example of something he'd miss, if, by chance, he could no longer get lost was that of chance meetings. They seemed to happen to him a lot when he got lost.

"Ukyou?" Ryouga sat on one of the counter stools of a small okonomiyaki store as he looked at the cook. Nearby, the store owner talked to one of the regular customers, leaving one half of the counter to be serviced by the younger chef.

Ukyou's features were slightly more effeminate since last time Ryouga had seen him, and the moody, almost grim expression was something he wasn't used to on the face of someone he remembered as almost always smiling.

"Ryouga. Long time no see." No exclamation of surprise at seeing a long-lost friend, no happy smile or angry frown or even a noncommital grunt. Nothing but a listless nod of the head.

"Er... yes. How have you been?"

Ukyou shrugged.

Ryouga grimaced, tapping deep into his conversation skills. "Uh... did you ever catch up to Ranma?"

"Don't mock me Ryouga. I didn't catch up to them; they didn't want to be caught. I looked and looked, but it didn't matter because there was nothing to be found. Nothing matters..."

"Gods... snap out of it Ukyou! Are you a man, or what?"

"Depends on who you ask." A shrug, a flick of the wrist, and another order was served onto a plate. An almost careless toss of the plate to the customer later, he looked back to the bandannaed boy. "What do you want, Ryouga? Our 'happy school days' are behind us. You're a bit early for a ten year reunion, it's only been two years."

"Saotome. I found him."

"Ran..." Life sparked into the dead eyes. Then the spark died again. "Yes, of course it would be you to find him and tell me. The only person I know who couldn't direct me if he wanted to. Don't do this to me, Ryouga. Don't..."

"I have an address. Written down. He's there, Ukyou. He's there to stay. I'll give you a fair chance: if you can arrive before I can get there again, you have next chance at him. Well?"

The spark had returned to the eyes. "Yes... but why?"

Ryouga shrugged, handing over a piece of paper. "I just think you've got a fair beef too. Not one I agree with, but still... It wouldn't have felt right to have not given you a chance."

"Nerima? The Tendo Dojo?" Ukyou looked up from the writing on the paper. "Why did he stop there? What's important about this place?"

Ryouga chuckled. "You'll love this. Aheheh... you see... snicker he's. he's... heh... engaged! Bwahahahahahaha! I love it! It's almost revenge in itself, for him to be engaged to a girl!"

"Engaged?" The chef's face whitened. "To anoth... to a girl?"

Ryouga nodded, wiping laughter tears from his eyes. "Yes. Isn't it the funniest thing you've ever heard?"

The hand scrunched the paper as it clenched hard. "Far too funny for me," Ukyou snarled, her eyes almost glowing.

* * *

Two weeks. Two weeks of protesting, arguing, and telling the truth, for nothing. Ranma cursed, throwing a vicious punch at the unoffending air in front of him. 

The only light in the blight of the last fortnight was that neither his or Akane's father had heard the lies about him. The blight in that light was that it was costing him all his allowance to keep Nabiki's mouth shut.

Why didn't anyone believe him? Why didn't Akane believe him? Every time, every damned time he'd tried to assert his sexual preferences, Akane would smile slightly and say something along the lines of 'Sure Ranma' or 'I believe you, Ranma', but it was obvious to him that she didn't believe...

Maybe she didn't want to believe. She'd been very pleasant to him, ever since she had 'found out'. Very friendly. Very like she was relieved that he 'was' gay.

He increased the speed of his kata, almost blurring through the moves, leaping from one part of the dojo to another.

Maybe he could prove he liked girls, not guys. Maybe then she'd stop treating him like... like... well, just a friend.

He kept up the increased pace, leaping, kicking, punching.

But how? How, what way was there? He'd tried telling her, he'd tried the more obvious things, like commenting to her on how good-looking some girl on tv was, he'd tried everything he could think of that was socially acceptable, short of...

He stopped in the centre of the dojo, slightly sweating. He stood there, motionless for a moment, before he smiled.

Of course. He'd ask her on a date.

* * *

Genma sighed in contentment as he ambled home from Tofu's clinic. His son was engaged, in an arrangement that would inherit them a dojo, he had an easy job that required little real work, his evenings were spent playing shogi with his best and oldest friend, he partook of wonderful meals that were cooked by a girl who was all too happy to do all the housework... life was good. 

He smiled as he thought about what Kasumi had probably cooked for dinner. Maybe sukiyaki, or perhaps some yakitori, possibly even okonomiyaki.

He frowned. What had made him think of that? His nose, sensitive to the delicate scents of food, answered for him. "Strange. I didn't realise there was an okonomiyaki restaurant around here."

"Hello Unckie Genma..." The words sing-songed from the shadows.

* * *

"So... uh... you know... that is... well, I..." 

"Ranma, what are you trying to say?"

"I was... was just wondering, Akane, if you weren't doing nothing, you know, tonight, if maybe you'd like to... to... go out to eat? Just you and... me?"

"What, a friends night out or something?"

"Wellllll... I was thinking more as a chance to... well, get to know each other as iinazuke. Didn't think that the dojo was the right place to do that."

"Oh, I see. Keeping up appearances for your Dad. Okay, sure. I can go."

"But it's not just for keeping up appearances..."

"Sure, Ranma. I understand."

"..." Fine, this is just another battle. And I swear that by the end of this date, you will believe that I am straight, or my name ain't Saotome Ranma. Heh, I'm gonna get you to admit I'm not gay even if it kills me.

* * *

"Why hello Mr Saotome. Did you have a nice day at work?" 

"Argh... Ka-su-mi..."

"It must be very hard work, for you to be resting on the sidewalk like this."

"Pain..."

"Hard work a pain? I never thought of it that way..."

"Doctor..."

"Why yes, I was going to Dr Tofu's. How did you know?"

"No... need doctor..."

"Why, Mr Saotome." She blushed. "It's not like that at all. Dr Tofu is just a good friend."

"Feeling... faint..."

"I'll leave you to your nap, Mr Saotome. If you get back home before I do, I left your meal in the oven. I'll be glad to reheat it for you when I get back. Goodbye!"

"Groan..."

* * *

Show her through your actions. Show her through your actions. 

Ranma repeated the mantra over and over, using it as a ward against the nervousness of being out on a date. "Er... wow, look at that waitress. What a looker."

Akane turned and looked for a few seconds, before swivelling back to face Ranma. "Ranma... why do you keep up the charade twenty-four hours a day? To keep in practice? You're getting good at the protests, I admit, you've even almost convinced me a couple of times. But... but it really hurts that you feel you can't tell me the truth, even when I already know it. Do you distrust me that much? Does our friendship mean so little?"

"-sigh- Look, I tried everything I can think of to convince you, Akane. But you just don't seem to want to believe me. What do I haveta do to make you believe me?"

"Why is this so important to you? Fine, if you want me to believe your 'truth', there's an easy way to prove you like girls and not boys. Kiss me." She smirked. No way he'd take up that challenge.

"What? But I... you... we..." Indecision firmed to resolve. Here's the chance he'd wanted... she'd have to believe him if he took her challenge! All it would take was one kiss. Just one quick, lousy kiss.

He started to sweat.

"Well?" He'll never do it. Maybe now he'll finally stop treating me like an outsider to his problems, maybe now he'll start treating me like a friend that he could confide in.

"Okay, fine. I can do it. I'll give you a kiss you'll never forget!"

"Fine. Ready when you are." Look at him sweat. Come on, just break down and admit it...

"What, here?" He looked around at the semi-crowded fast food restaurant.

"They're not even looking at us. Do you think that cuts it as an excuse?"

"I don't need no excuse. Here I come." He leaned forward, sweat pouring off him.

I don't believe it, he's actually going to do it. Akane forced herself not to blink, keeping her eyes on Ranma's lips as his face drew closer.

I can't believe I'm doing this... Ranma placed both hands on the table, starting to lean across, making sure to give Akane plenty of time to back out if she wanted, hoping that she would, and hoping that she wouldn't.

Akane's wide eyes trembled slightly. What if she'd been wrong? What if he really was a normal guy? Should she stop him? Should she let him kiss her? Should she...

A gigantic spatula cleaved the space between the two teenagers, shearing through the table.

Akane and Ranma stumbled back from the broken table. Their eyes both travelled from the unusual weapon to its wielder, who was looking at Ranma.

"Hello 'Ranchan'."

* * *

"Pig! Scum! Betraying son of a betraying bastard!" Swing, kick, backswing. 

"Aw... come on Ucchan. Don't be back to this way!" Block, dodge, vault.

"You left me! No word, no explanation, no nothing!" Head, stomach, groin.

"What!? I left you a letter! I swear, I would have waited for you to get back if Pop hadn't--" Duck, sidestep, deflect.

"Letter? There was no letter! And now I find out you're engaged to someone else! How can you be engaged to two people? How!?" Blow after blow, never settle into a pattern.

"Pop--" Dodge and dart and block and avoid and never fight back, never hurt her.

"No! I'm sick of it! Always, always it's your father's fault! Always! I bought it once, I'm not buying it again!"

The two teenagers darted out of the restaurant, Ukyou attacking, Ranma dodging. Another moment, and Akane jogged out after them.

"Don't do this Ucchan..." Don't hate me...

"Damn you! Don't you DARE call me that!"

"This isn't you, Ucchan." Don't let these feelings be you...

He caught the battle spatula, twisted around the knee that Ukyou drove at him, and he looked into his old friend's eyes. "I thought we were friends." I thought we'd always be friends...

"Let me go!"

"Not until we sort this out." Not until it's all alright again...

"I'm not going to listen to your lies!"

"Look, I'm sorry I couldn't wait around to tell you I was going. Pop forced it on me at the last moment. Damn it, you were supposed to find me! I swear, I left a le--"

"No! No easy solution this time, Saotome! No quick apology and then it's all-is-forgiveness! No nice, simple way out for you!" A quick twist, and the cook was free, leaving the spatula to Ranma as a sacrifice of the escape.

"Ucchan, don't leave like this!"

"Why should you care if I do?" Ukyou leaped to a nearby rooftop, shouting back before disappearing into the night's dark "If you'd cared, you would have told me you were going, two years ago. You would have asked me to come with you..."

* * *

Akane blinked, returning her gaze from the roof to her iinazuke. Well, the 'date' had been ruined. She was surprised at how disappointed that made her feel. 

Ranma lowered his eyes from scanning the roof to stare at the spatula in his right hand. "No letter?"

She cleared her throat. "Ranma, I--"

Ranma glanced up at her, blinking as if he hadn't even realised she was there. "Akane!"

"Ranma, who was that?"

Ranma shook his head. "I'll answer that later, Akane. I've gotta find Ucchan first." He grasped the spatula with both hands, and he leaped onto the roof of one of the buildings, bounding off.

* * *

Akane clenched her fists. She couldn't believe it, she'd just been ditched in the middle of a date. "And what did he mean by 'engaged to two people'?" 

"Damnit!" Ranma sat down, staring out at the adjacent rooftops. She'd gotten away.

"What the hell's wrong with her? Why's she back to trying to kill me?" He grimaced, looking to the combat spatula he still held, as if it would give an answer.

"What was with her? She was so sloppy with her attacks, what happened to her training? And what did she mean no letter, anyway? How could she not have seen it? Damn it Ucchan, I thought you didn't want to find me. This is screwed..."

* * *

"Damnit!" Ukyou slammed a fist into an unoffending wall, caving it in. 

The best laid plans... screwed by his temper. He'd wanted the truth, more than anything else. No, no not quite true. What he wanted more than anything else was the truth to be that Ranma didn't run away. But still, he wanted to know, he wanted to know so bad the answer to the simplest of questions: why? Why was it so bad for the Saotomes to take one extra person along on their trip?

Did they hate him that much?

Had all of Ranma's friendship been a lie?

Perhaps why wasn't a simple question after all.

Not that it really mattered now. Ranma couldn't be trusted. Kami-sama knew that Genma couldn't. He had planned to come to Nerima, to fade into the background for a while, to spy on the Saotomes until he found out the reasons.

And he'd screwed it all because he couldn't keep hidden, he couldn't control his anger when he had first seen Genma. And then he'd compounded the problem when he'd spied on Ranma. He'd almost kept himself in check, spying on Ranma, but then... but then...

Damnit, Ranma was going to kiss that girl.

Why? Why was that girl so much more desirable to Ranma? He'd never tried to kiss... well, the Neko-ken didn't count. And neither did the bus station. Why did that girl rate such attention, what made her special? Why did Ranma love her more?

She sighed, rubbing the hand he had used to punch the wall, before she started to walk home. Why was never an easy question.

* * *

"Ah, good morning Akane. Up at last, I see." 

"Uncle Saotome! What happened to you!?"

"Nothing that you should worry about. I'll be fine in a day or so. I hear you and Ranma went on a date. It must have been a good one, he didn't get home until after I went to bed, and he was gone again before I got up. Must be off celebrating his good fortune, eh? Are those wedding bells I hear?"

Considering how beat up you look, it wouldn't surprise me if you were hearing ringing. "Uncle Saotome... could you tell me something?"

"Certainly. What would you like to know? Need some advice on handling my son?"

"In a way. What do you know about Ranma being engaged twice?"

* * *

At last. After years of planning, hoping, yearning, the dream that had kept him going through the worst times had come true. Kuonji Ukyou was the proud owner/operator of his very own okonomiyaki-ya. 

It had taken every yen he had earned over the years, along with a fair chunk of his father's savings. It had taken calling in favours from friends of the family, for permits and approval and such. It had taken leasing in Nerima, with its depressed, and therefore cheaper real estate market. And it had taken luck; the luck of looking for the store at the right time in the right place. But now, it was his.

He looked around the small restaurant's interior one last time. It was as clean and tidy as it was going to get. He certainly wouldn't be able to afford paint or better furniture for a fair while, so he had worked with what he could. The important thing was that the grill worked fine. All in all, it was not bad for his first restaurant. And it was time for the grand opening.

Satisfied, he walked over to the large entrance door and slid it open without preamble. He looked out at the customerless street and sighed. As if on cue, it started to rain. He sighed again.

"Great grand opening," he muttered as he walked back inside to get the store banner to hang out.

* * *

"Rain, rain, go away. And don't come back any bloody day." onna-Ranma muttered, pulling his soaked shirt away from his breasts. "Last time I try searching for someone when there's a 'chance of showers'. Maybe I should have just kept looking last night." 

The clouds rumbled menacingly, and the rain increased its tempo.

"Great. Just great. Wonder if there's anywhere around here I can shelter in?" His eyes roved the rain-gloomed streets before they rested on the lit entrance of a store.

"Huh. No store curtain out, but the door's open... What the hell, it's worth a try."

* * *

"Hello there! You caught me unprepared for customers!" 

He froze, his head lowered because of his attempts to wring some water out of his shirt. His eyes widened until they hurt from the strain. That voice... no, he couldn't be this lucky, could he? He slowly raised his head, never blinking.

Ukyou looked at him, polite concern on his face, resting the store curtain against the grill counter. "Are you okay?"

"I... uh..." He wasn't mentally prepared for this, he wasn't prepared at all. He'd still been running over what to say to her when he saw her again. But to meet her by chance like this...

Ukyou shook his head. "You're soaked! I'll get you a towel. So," he grinned, "what's a girl like you doing out in weather like this?"

"I'm not a girl." A reflex line, out of his mouth before he'd consciously thought it. He winced.

Ukyou looked at the girl's clothes, the totally non-demure stance, the unkempt haircut as he thought about the redhead's rough, almost boyish way of talking. "Ah." He smiled. "I think I understand. I'll just go get that towel. Have a look at the menu, the first okonomiyaki's on the house since you're my very first customer." He winked before he walked out to the back room, as onna-Ranma regained his wits.

"Damn." She didn't recognise me. She... she was so different. Happier, friendlier. Is she only bitter and sad when she's around me, around my real form? Damnit, damnit, damnit...

He blinked, starting to feel miserable. He was about to turn around and leave, when he remembered Ukyou's parting words. "Very first customer..." He reached into his pockets, drawing out a measly wad of yen. It was all that was left from what Akane's father had given him for the date the night before. He'd been trying to think of something to buy Akane as way of apology for the busted date, something that would be seen as manly. Maybe flowers or something.

But... but he was Ucchan's very first customer...

His resolve firmed, he stalked forward to sit on one of the grill stools. "I've got a promise to keep."

* * *

Ukyou placed the seventh okonomiyaki before the redhead. 

"You... certainly appreciate your food." What's wrong with the girl, why's she so nervous?

"Uh... It's really good food, and I guess I'm a little hungry." What do I do?  
If I tell her it's me, she might go back to her angry mode. But I don't want to lie to her either...

"So, what's your name?"

"..."

* * *

"So you're saying that when you engaged Ranma to Ukyou, you thought that Ukyou was a girl?" Akane blinked. 

Genma nodded.

"But if Ukyou had been a girl, wouldn't that have meant that both engagments would--"

"What's past is past. We should worry more about the present. From what you told me about Ukyou's actions last night, it would be best if you kept away from him, and helped keep Ranma away from him too. Ukyou is obviously dangerous." Especially to a Tendo-Saotome union... Damn that girl, why did she have to turn up now?

* * *

Onna-Ranma sighed, stepping out of the okonomiyaki shop. All in all, that could have gone worse... 

"Seeya Nanami!"

He winced, his shoulders slumping, before he turned and waved at the chef. "Aheh. Bye!" He shuffled down the street, cursing himself. Well, he had to say something when she started asking questions...

* * *

Ukyou completed his wave as the redheaded girl walked out of sight of the okonomiyaki-ya entrance. 

"Nice girl. Real nervous though." He shook his head, idly scraping stray bits of okonomiyaki off the grill.

He smiled, twiddling one of his cooking spatulas. A kindred spirit. What were the chances? The girl, Nanami, was a tomboy. Oh boy, was she ever a tomboy. Hell, the only other girl he'd ever seen come as close to being a guy was... well, was himself.

Perhaps that was why he had felt an instant rapport with the girl.

And then, there were his protective instincts. He had studied her during their talk, and he hadn't liked what he saw. The slightest tightening of her muscles whenever he made a sudden motion. The widened eyes and slightest drop into a defensive stance when he had put his hand on his new combat spatula, which was strapped to his back, to steady it when it overbalanced. The nervous pauses before she answered a question, even if it was something simple such as her name or where she grew up...

Ukyou didn't know who had made the girl so afraid of others, but if he ever caught up with them...

* * *

With a slight grunt, Ukyou slotted the store sign over the okonomiyaki-ya entrance. He stepped back to get a better view of it. 

His smile was slight, unreadable. A smile of pride? Happiness? Wistfulness? A smile for the future? The present? Or for the past?

After one last lingering look at the sign, he walked inside.

The store sign swayed slightly, the words UCCHAN'S OKONOMIYAKI bending and contorting on the wind-fingered cloth.

* * *

"Argh!" Wham! "Moron!" Wham! "Idiot!" Wham! "Stupid, stupid..." Wham! Wham! Wham! 

The impromptu punching bug, a lamppost, gave one last metallic sigh before it keeled over, snapped clean through by several angry blows. Onna-Ranma flushed guiltily, looking around for witnesses to his unintentional vandalism.

He had lied to his best friend. It didn't matter that she'd been trying to bash his brains in, the night before, the fact was still there. He had lied to her, just to be able to have some peaceful time talking to her.

He felt low.

And the thing was, to see her smile at him, to see her laugh and joke and talk without anger with him, he'd... he'd do it again.

Gods, he felt low.

* * *


End file.
